New deal aims to expand Bike Share Toronto: reports

With news that the Toronto Parking Authority—the parent organization of Bike Share Toronto—is asking the city’s government for the go-ahead to expand the bike-sharing network beyond downtown, riders throughout the Greater Toronto Area and as far as Hamilton may soon see the service in their own back yards.

Metro News offered a report on the matter on Wednesday, March 2.

As it exists now, there are boundaries to Bike Share Toronto’s range of operations, demarcated by Ossington Avenue in the city’s west end, Parliament Street in the east, and Bloor Street to the north. With the planned expansion, there would be additional bike stations placed at retail and transportation “hubs” throughout the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, the heavy lifting made lighter thanks to a $4.9 million deal between the parking authority and Metrolinx, a regional transit provider.

Under the arrangement, Metrolinx will be purchasing Bike Share Toronto’s fleet of bikes and network of bike docks, which will be operated by the Toronto Parking Authority.

“It would be a pilot project,” said Marie Casista, a vice-president of the Toronto Parking Authority, in conversation with Metro News. “Whether we’ll be able to operate successfully there we’re not sure yet, but we’re certainly going to give it a try.”

The City of Hamilton, of course, already has a bike-sharing system of its own. The expansion of Bike Share Toronto to the neighbouring Ontario city would see the Toronto-based operation try to “work alongside it,” Casista told reporters.